San Diego City Council Approves Mayor’s First Outsourcing Proposal

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Aired 4/13/10

San Diego City Council has approved the mayor’s proposal to outsource part of the city's IT department. The vote marks a step toward the mayor’s goal of using managed competition to outsource city services, if it saves money.

SAN DIEGO  San Diego City Council has approved the mayor’s proposal to outsource part of the city's IT department. The vote marks a step toward the mayor’s goal of using managed competition to outsource city services, if it saves money.

A Los Angeles company, En Pointe won the contract to run the city’s IT help desk services. En Pointe’s bid will save the city about a million dollars a year, though council members questioned whether transition costs and monitoring costs might erode those savings.

Council President Ben Hueso said the contract will be reviewed by council in a year before it is renewed.

"I’ll support this today but with a lot of skepticism," Heuso said. "And make sure the council does hold the contractor to their word, to their performance schedule and that we do hopefully save money on this in the future."

Councilwoman Sheri Lightner was the lone dissenting vote. She said it does not make sense to outsource San Diego jobs to companies whose workers live in L.A or India.

The mayor’s office will develop proposals to outsource more IT functions that Data Processing Services has performed for the past 30 years.